This has been an eventful week across the board, so it's understandable that Captain Marvel slipped under-the-radar with her own quietly impressive news.
There's all this talk about the Game of Thrones finale, but also John Wick 3 topping Avengers: Endgame in its opening weekend, with Endgame topping Avatar at the domestic box office. Endgame is well on its way to taking the all-time worldwide title from Avatar, but it's not there yet.
Avengers: Endgame is up at #2 on the list of highest-grossing films of all time, just behind Avatar. But down at #22 is Captain Marvel, which came out in March and has been getting some extra box office juice from the release of Endgame not quite two months later.
Captain Marvel didn't make huge money this week, and in fact it didn't even crack the top 10 at the May 17-19 domestic box office. But from last Sunday to today, its domestic total jumped $2 million, and that's not counting the money it's still making overseas. All told, the past week or so has been enough to push Captain Marvel's worldwide gross above two competitors:
22. Captain Marvel (2019): $1,125,411,72023. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011): $1,123,794,07924. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): $1,120,237,002
Those numbers aren't adjusted for inflation, so we're not talking about total tickets sold here, just the overall dollar amount. It's kind of shocking to me that Michael Bay's third Transformers movie was even that high on the list. Captain Marvel topping the final Lord of the Rings movie is a bit surprising to me, but we have had some ticket price hikes in the past 16 years.
You know who is next on the list above Captain Marvel? I don't think Carol Danvers can top her fellow superheroes, but here they are:
20. Captain America: Civil War (2016): $1,153,304,49521. Aquaman (2018) $1,147,761,807
Yeah, I suspect Captain Marvel will be sticking with No. 22 for a while, and possibly pushed down along with some others after 2019 closes out. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker wants a place in the top 20, at the very least, and Toy Story 4, The Lion King, and Frozen 2 will be making plays as well.
Check out the current list of highest-grossing movies, per Box Office Mojo. (I'm never going to get over Minions cracking the top 20, but there it is at No. 19. It topped Carol, Cap, and Arthur Curry.)
The list is packed with superhero and Star Wars movies, and we have more to come this year. On the MCU front, we still have Spider-Man: Far From Home in July. Disney's Toy Story 4 opens in June with Frozen 2 in November. Then Star Wars Episode IX ends the Skywalker Saga in December. Keep up with all of the 2019 release dates with our handy guide.
